Getting back to work!

Well the spring season has finally struck, and I'm ready to hope that no more cold nights lay ahead of us, so it's time to start laying everything out. Truth be told, there's a lot going on at the garden already: asparagus has come and been picked, lettuce thrives in the front boxes, kale and spinach have come and gone, and now we've got cabbage and onions going strong and a strawberry patch that will hopefully come back from the brink of a vicious (rabbit? / deer?) attack. And I just put in some potatoes tonight. Today was a good day because there are more people than ever before working hard to make the garden a better place. There's Linda who knows how to manage and plant the flowers around the borders of our veggie patches. There's Jim and Bill who are keeping the lawn at a military-grade crew cut--to boot, Jim has tilled us additional acreage this year and we're certain to have a bigger harvest than last year. Soon there will be corn, squash and beans to plant along with the ever growing parade of tomatoes. What's more is that we've seen lots of additional color around the garden this year, most recently with the addition of marigolds and yarrow. Furthermore, Val planted some lavender. Some have been asking which flowers are good to bring up and plant, and the easy answer is that any flowers will do. However, flowers like calendula, yarrow, marigolds, petunias, purple coneflowers and bronze fennel are all good bets because they bring in beneficial insects into the garden. Also, our garden has been invited to participate at a farmers / craft market in historic Rabbit Hash, KY this June. We can sell plant starts, any harvest, and any arts and crafts that anyone should wish to donate. If you have a creative idea for selling stuff at this even, please share your thoughts. We may be able to raise some significant money for future projects if we apply ourselves. Anyhow, I'm going to save anything else a later post, but in the meantime, it is my hope to bring some new voices to the blog if they'll contribute. Look for that soon! To tide you over, here is a recent picture of the garden and a tree that we planted in honor of Ruby Goderweis. There will be a ceremony to remember her at the garden on May 19th. We've got a bit of cleaning up to do before then! It should be fun!

Musings on the New Year

Greetings everyone! Even though it's only ten days into January and we've yet to have a hard snow, who can help but turn with a hopeful eye toward Spring with this unseasonable warm weather we've been having? I say take advantage of those extra rays of sun while we can!

I know at the start of every year, there's a lot of talk of resolutions. One of my resolutions is to stop treating the blogs I co-author like neglected stepchildren. This post, I say, is a small step in the right direction.

There hasn't been much going on up at the garden lately except continuing compost. Oh! I almost forgot! With the help of my dad, I planted a tree for the Boondocks Redhatters Society in memory of Ruby Goterwis, a resident of Boone Lake who passed away. The tree is a Sunset Red Maple, about twelve feet tall, and will ultimately reach 35' in height and span an area 35' in diameter. It is my sincere hope to lobby the community to put a bench out under that tree once it begins to spread out. One thing I hope to do this year is to put the "community" aspect back in the garden. I think the whole area is a social reclamation project waiting to happen.

Furthermore, I was elected President of Boone Lake Club this year by our board! Hopefully this will make it easier to get increased participation during the growing season.

Stay tuned for more blog posts! I've got a great one right around the corner for making seed starting containers that you can set outside and forget about!

Brian